Shelby is a twenty-something university student who plans to spend her summer break on an archaeological dig with her father, Dr. Robert Bly, to catch up on lost time. Although her father was once an adventurous globetrotting archaeologist, Shelby is studying to be a simple historian with the goal of one day working in a temperature-controlled museum. Her over-protective father supports this rather than encouraging her to follow in his danger-ridden footsteps. Shelby’s world is about to be turned upside-down when shadows from her father’s past re-emerge.

With the aid of her friends Maia Avanti and Joel Rio, Shelby will attempt to become an adventurer to unravel the mysteries of both the mythical Vril and the past she thought she knew. Although she finds the prospect of adventuring to be exciting after her previously sheltered life, the reality may be too difficult to accept and to survive.

The character concept for the main character, Shelby Bly, has undergone so many alterations, overhauls, and adjusting that it’s almost impossible for me to keep track of all the changes. What you see above are the finalized concepts. That means that these are the last concepts and this is how she will appear in the actual graphic novel. I may try to find the first/earliest concept art I can find of Shelby for reference/fun/comparison. For now, I’m focusing on finalizing all of her outfits for the novel because she does tend to change clothes on a normal basis over the course of the story. Once these concepts are finished (and if they don’t include spoilers), I’ll add them here to this post.

The graphic novel will begin with a prologue set roughly 20 years in the past. For the prologue, I needed to create a child version of Shelby Bly and here is the concept of that child version. I can’t say too much more without getting into spoiler territory.

This is how we will first see Shelby Bly in the present day in Chapter 1 of the novel. The story begins with her going to a dig site in Arizona (thus the trowel) to spend time with her father and takes off from there.

There may be some scenes that take place underwater so Shelby will need a scuba gear outfit for those scenes. I think I have all the elements assembled here but this concept isn’t quite finalized just yet. It still needs a bit more work.

Later in the novel, Shelby will need to traverse a distance via a rented motorcycle. This is the outfit she will wear for those scenes. I also plan on adding a helmet once I find and decide on the perfect helmet model.

Not every location is suited to short sleeves and canvas shoes. For colder climates, Shelby will need these winter clothes and boots. I only just put this outfit together today so I might go back over it and change a few things later. I just realized I forgot to add gloves!